Apple, Google kill California bill

Apple and Google helped kill California’s BASED Act after Senate Bill 1074 stalled in a 3-3 committee vote on April 20. (bloomberg.com) (spdtcp.senate.ca.gov) The bill, by state Senator Scott Wiener of San Francisco, would have barred trillion-dollar platforms from favoring their own products over rivals on services they control. (sd11.senate.ca.gov) (leginfo.legislature.ca.gov) SB 1074 applied to companies with at least a $1 trillion market value or private valuation and 100 million monthly U.S. users. It also targeted restrictions on interoperability and data portability. (sd11.senate.ca.gov) (calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org) The proposal moved through the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 14 by an 8-1 vote, then hit the Senate Privacy, Digital Technologies, and Consumer Protection Committee six days later. (calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org) (spdtcp.senate.ca.gov) Bloomberg reported that tech lobbyists buried the measure in little more than a month, with the California Chamber of Commerce and Chamber of Progress leading the opposition. (finance.yahoo.com) Wiener said Apple and Google “absolutely flooded the Capitol with lobbyists” and called the campaign a “tidal wave lobbying effort.” Bloomberg said Chamber of Progress attacked the bill within minutes of its March 18 rollout. (finance.yahoo.com) (sd11.senate.ca.gov) Supporters included Y Combinator and Economic Security California Action, plus more than 275 organizations and businesses listed in the Senate Judiciary analysis. (sd11.senate.ca.gov) (sjud.senate.ca.gov) Backers said the bill was meant to stop conduct like manipulating rankings, using third-party business data to boost in-house products, and blocking outside tools from working with a platform. (sjud.senate.ca.gov) (calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org) Opponents said the language was too broad. Gibson Dunn wrote that the measure could have forced redesigns of search pages and other integrated product features, while Chamber of Progress made killing it a top state priority. (gibsondunn.com) (finance.yahoo.com) The fight landed in California because a state law aimed at Apple, Google, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft could have reshaped products far beyond Sacramento. Instead, SB 1074 stopped in committee after 33 days of open combat. (sjud.senate.ca.gov) (finance.yahoo.com)